East Main Street Historic District

Along East Main Street in Brevard, North Carolina, this residential district developed from the early twentieth century through the 1950s and is made up of houses on large lots, two church complexes, and a few wooded vacant parcels. The district reflects the town's growth after the Hendersonville and Brevard Railroad reached Brevard in 1895, which brought tourism, timber and tanning industries, and new residents. Its buildings range from the ca. 1858 Lankford-Cleveland House, remodeled around 1900, to Minimal Traditional and Ranch houses built after World War II. The Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church, designed by Asheville architect Henry Gaines, has a brick sanctuary with cast concrete cross-motif windows and a copper-clad steeple. Six houses and churches within the district are already listed individually on the National Register. The district is significant for its architecture, especially the variety of popular and vernacular styles that illustrate local building trends across more than a century.